Membership

Membership Update and the New ‘Sponsor an International Member Program’

By Luis M. Zabala, MD
CCAS Secretary/Treasurer

The Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society (CCAS) turns 15 years in 2020. Our society has grown considerably over the years, and today, we have close to 1200 members. This number represents a substantial 15% growth from the previous year.

As a reminder, membership benefits include:

  • Quality CME educational activities related to the practice of pediatric and congenital cardiac anesthesia
  • Discounted registration fees at CCAS sponsored educational events such as Annual Meeting Conferences
  • Semi-annual CCAS Newsletter highlighting important updates in our specialty through reviews and expert commentaries
  • Access to the members-only section of the website (www.ccasociety.org )
  • Access to interactive website as the portal to communicate with all members delivering information on our meetings, advance fellowship training, and future initiatives
  • Educational resources such as the ‘Question of the Week’, ‘Poll of the Month’, “Echocardiography Rounds’, rich lecture repository, and review articles
  • Database information, updates on the Dolly D. Hansen Educational Fund and collaboration with other Societies
  • Meeting and networking opportunities with other colleagues in the field, members of other societies with common interests, and partner organizations
  • Fellowship and career development for those in training or at early stages of their careers
  • Participation in CCAS committees and special interest groups

Today, given our success and thank you to all our members, the Society feels the responsibility to expand and reach out to those less familiar with our Society or unable to join. The mission of CCAS is to improve the perioperative care and outcomes and facilitate technological advances in therapy for newborns, infants, and children with cardiovascular disease, congenital or acquired, and adult with congenital heart disease requiring anesthetic care.

This is accomplished through education, collaboration, research, coordination with other societies, establishing guidelines and advocacy. It is also important to assume our role as leaders in our specialty and work to disseminate this mission worldwide, promoting inclusion of those providing congenital cardiac anesthesia around the world.

Following the Spring Meeting of 2019 in Houston, the CCAS executive committee and other members of our Society proposed a pilot sponsoring program aimed at reaching out to other pediatric and congenital cardiac anesthesiologists interested in joining our Society for whom the membership fee represented a significant financial burden and the rate-limiting step to becoming a member. This initiative would not only help expand our membership, but more importantly build bridges with individuals and communities in other developing countries needing access to our educational support and mentorship to better serve their patients.

Today, we want to welcome 20 new CCAS members from around the world thanks to this sponsoring initiative. These individuals will join our Society for two consecutive years, and as sponsors we consider our obligation to reach out, be engaged, and continue to add value to their membership during the sponsoring period.

It is an incredible honor and privilege to be a member of this Society. I continue to learn from all of you every day. I have built great lasting professional relationships during my 14 years as a member and many, if not all, I consider close friends. The CCAS has allowed me to expand my place of practice to any place where there is another member. We communicate, we share, and we learn together.

The sponsoring program (Sponsor an International Member) is now open to any CCAS member interested in reaching out and supporting the membership dues of any new international member. The International Membership category provides membership not only in CCAS but also in SPA and CCAS. The membership dues of international members are based on tiers determined by the World Bank of Economies and are extremely low-cost.

The application is now available at our website, and I encourage you to sponsor a member so that others can have access to the  incredible amount of knowledge and resources available at CCAS. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me luis.zabala@childrens.com, Greg Leasure greg@societyhq.com, or Kim Battle kim@societyhq.com with any questions.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone in the Bahamas!

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